Anthony Davis has not played for the Los Angeles Lakers since Feb. 14 due to a calf strain, and it doesn't appear he'll be back any time soon. Davis was set for a re-examination on Friday, and after doctors took a look at his leg there wasn't much of an update at all.
"Anthony Davis was re-examined by team medical staff earlier this evening," the Lakers said in a statement. "He continues to progress in his recovery and has been cleared to advance his on court work. Additional updates will be given when appropriate."
On the one hand, the vagueness of the update means we still don't know when Davis will be back. At the same time, the lack of any sort of concrete timeline means we can safely assume that he won't be taking the court any time soon. That, obviously, is bad news for the Lakers, who are also without LeBron James due to a high ankle sprain.
The Lakers have not been the same without Davis in the lineup this season, going 17-6 with him, and 9-11 without. In addition, they're 0-3 since LeBron went down -- 0-4 if you include the game he got hurt -- and two of those losses have been complete blowouts. Now 28-17, they've dropped to fourth place in the Western Conference, and are just 3.5 games ahead of the seventh-place Mavericks. This season, of course, seventh will mean a trip to the play-in tournament.
Davis signed a five-year contract extension with the Lakers during the offseason, so caution is warranted on a variety of fronts. James has won his fair share of road playoff games, so a lower seed isn't necessarily the end of the world for the Lakers. An injured Davis would be, both in terms of defending last season's championship and contending for the long haul. They will give him as long as he needs to recover.
